


Ho, Ho, Who?

by NellieOleson



Category: Stargate SG-1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-06
Updated: 2014-08-06
Packaged: 2018-02-12 00:21:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2088603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NellieOleson/pseuds/NellieOleson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the prompt: Sam turning some holiday tradition inside out with her geeky brilliance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Ho, Ho, Who?

Sam didn’t normally put up Christmas lights. It was a job too tedious for gloves and too cold for her bare hands.

But this year, her neighbor had gone and installed one of those light shows set to music. And it wasn’t like he’d done any of the work himself. It came as a kit. In a box. Something anybody with enough money could pull off. Still, it seemed to attract half the city to her small, normally quiet street.

The extra traffic was a pain in the ass but that wasn’t her main issue. She just couldn’t get over how smug the guy was about the whole thing. He’d stopped her more than once to ask if she was going to decorate her own house. He’d even offered to help, just in case she didn’t know how to use a ladder and cheap plastic light clips.

Her spirit of Christmas one-upsmanship came at a good time. The universe was unusually quiet, giving her plenty of time to prepare her masterpiece.

She started with lights, of course. Lots of them. She lured Daniel to her house with promises of hot chocolate in exchange for his help. He showed up with Teal’c and donuts and the light portion of her display went up without a hitch.

Her neighbor stopped by several times to offer advice. His look of decorating superiority faded throughout the day as Teal’c added more and more lights.

It was almost time for dinner when Daniel finished hanging snowflake lights from the gutters. He walked back to the porch and looked at her stash. “How many lights did you buy?”

“All of them,” she said. From five different stores.

“Aren’t you worried that you’re going to cause a blackout?”

Sam laughed. Of course she’d thought of that. “Naquedah generator.”

Teal’c stopped wrapping lights around the porch columns and shook his head.

Colonel O’Neill showed up once he realized that everyone else was at her house. It was just starting to get dark and she was putting the last of the lights around the chimney. He yelled up to her. “I can’t believe you didn’t invite me, Carter.”

“I did.”

“No, you didn’t.”

He held the ladder while she climbed down. She was pretty sure he only did it so he could stare at her ass. “I sent you four emails,” she said. “And a text message.” None of which he’d answered. Not that she was surprised. He still preferred old-fashioned forms of communication.

He put a hand on her back as she stepped onto the ground. “Oh,” he said. “Well, I’m here now. What do you need me to do?”

“Nothing.” He seemed mildly disappointed as he followed her to the sidewalk. They stood with Daniel and Teal’c, looking over their handiwork. The lights looked impressive and they weren’t even turned on yet. The neighbor’s music started up reminding Sam that she had one more thing to take care of, because the lights weren’t the main attraction. “Stay here,” she told them. “I have a Christmas miracle to arrange.”

She went down to her basement and powered up the generator. Then she pulled a small glowing stone out of her pocket and smiled. Aggravating neighbor didn’t stand a chance.

*****

Teal’c, Daniel, and Colonel O’Neill were still standing on the sidewalk. Their upturned faces were glowing in the multi-colored light pool surrounding the house. Sam brushed a perfect snowflake off of her cheek and went to join them.

A jolly ‘ho, ho, ho’ echoed in the night air. Sam frowned. Santa might be a little too loud.

“Is that a hologram?” Daniel asked.

“Not exactly.”

Colonel O’Neill looked sharply at her. “Wha-”

She held up a hand to stop him. “Don’t ask questions you don’t really want answers to.”

His mouth snapped shut before a slow grin spread across his face. “Called in some favors from our little gray buddy, did you?”

“Something like that,” she said.

Santa ‘ho, ho, ho’d’ again before touching the side of his nose and hopping into the chimney. His overstuffed bag followed him down like magic. Cars were starting to pull over in front of her house and people were gathering on the sidewalk around them. One of the reindeer snuffled and shook the snow from its antlers.

She heard someone gasp as Santa popped back out of the chimney, complete with a spot of soot on his nose. “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night,” he exclaimed before climbing back into his sleigh. The eight tiny reindeer pawed at the roof before taking off and streaking into the darkness.

The snow stopped falling a moment later, and Sam checked her watch. If all went according to plan, Santa would be back every fifteen minutes for the next three hours, and her neighbor would never speak to her again.


End file.
